Several factors effect how cotton or other fibers are graded or classed. For example, some of the factors that affect the grade assigned to cotton fibers are the moisture content of the sample, the length of the cotton fibers, the tensile strength of the cotton fibers, the color of the fibers, and the trash content of the cotton. Thus, various tests are often conducted on different fiber samples to determine these factors. Once the factors are determined, the fiber can be classed. These factors can also be used to set processing parameters for the fibers.
Some of these factors are dependent one upon another. For example, the length and strength of the fibers tends to be dependent at least in part upon the moisture content of the sample. Generally, the length and strength of fibers tend to increase as the moisture content of the sample increases—at least up to a point. For this reason, a given sample may be humidity conditioned for a specified period of time before the tests are conducted, so that the tests are performed at some known or assumed moisture value. In this manner, the length and strength readings can be correlated between fiber samples.
However, it is not always practical to humidify a sample prior to testing. For example, it may be desirable to know the actual moisture content of the sample, and not condition the sample to some baseline moisture value. When such testing is desired, different fiber samples are typically pulled and sent to different pieces of inspection equipment for the various tests desired, such as length, strength, and moisture content.
Unfortunately, as mentioned above, the length and strength of the fibers tends to be dependent, at least in part, on the moisture content of the fibers. Because the moisture content can vary from one fiber sample to another, there is no guarantee that the moisture content of the sample sent for moisture analysis is the same as the moisture content of the sample sent for strength analysis, or the same as that of the sample sent for length analysis. Thus, the values determined for length and strength might not be readily comparable to values determined for other samples, because the moisture content of the length and strength samples might not really be known.
What is needed, therefore, is a system of testing that overcomes problems such as those described above, at least in part.